Paramount and Dreamworks went HD DVD exclusive today. Then, a Hollywood news blog reported that the HD DVD camp paid Paramount $50 million and DreamWorks Animation $100 million for "promotional consideration." We asked Paramount and the HD DVD camp about this, and received a quick albeit vague reply: "Whenever we conduct co-marketing, production deals or other agreements, we never discuss business terms."
I take that as a confirmation of sorts—certainly it isn't a denial—but is it bad, or even out of the ordinary? Let's get some context. First, here's a fuller version of what transpired today:
When reporting the Paramount/DreamWorks Animation announcement, Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily wrote this:Note how there's no mention of the money Paramount (I'm told $50 million) and DreamWorks Animation (I'm told $100 million) is receiving for "promotional consideration" from the HD DVD side to continue with what is widely recognized as the losing high-def f...

Today, a Hollywood news blog reported that the HD DVD camp paid Paramount $50 million and DreamWorks Animation $100 million for "promotional consideration." We asked Paramount and the HD DVD camp about this, and received a quick albeit vague reply: "Whenever we conduct co-marketing, production deals or other agreements, we never discuss business terms." I take that as a confirmation of sorts—certainly it isn't a denial—but is it bad, or even out of the ordinary? Let's get some context.
First, here's a fuller version of what transpired today:
When reporting the Paramount/DreamWorks Animation announcement, Nikki Finke at Deadline Hollywood Daily wrote this:Note how there's no mention of the money Paramount (I'm told $50 million) and DreamWorks Animation (I'm told $100 million) is receiving for "promotional consideration" from the HD DVD side to continue with what is widely recognized as the losing high-def format.We're sure Nikki's a good person and a fine repo...

Perhaps in spin-response to the Paramount news from this AM, a Blu ray Consortium rep just called me to tell me Fox is supporting Blu-ray. What's weird is that they're already supposed to be supporting Blu-ray. Everyone is entitled to defend their own turf, but in order to spin the news, you have to have facts that are actually news. I guess the news should be that Fox isn't ditching Blu-ray, as it seemed they were going to since they haven't released a disc on that format since April, according to Wikipedia, and haven't had any plans to.
The thing is, Fox hasn't released a blu disc in months. That's weird because they were part of the board that created Blu. They were the ones gunning for all that deep DRM. We'll update you when the release comes out, because we're hoping that they at least mention some movie titles.
But as you can see in our chart from this morning, there has been no real change, Except for Paramount going to HD DVD exclusively.
Blu-ra...

Now that Paramount and Dreamworks Animation have just announced to exclusively support the HD DVD format, we thought it was time to revisit the current status of studio support for both Blu-ray and HD DVD. At last check, Blu-ray had all but a few studios locked down in their camp, with HD DVD trailing far behind. Has it changed?
Blu-ray HD DVD Columbia Pictures(1), MGM (1,3) Yes No Disney Yes No Dreamworks (4) No Yes HBO Yes Yes First Look Studios No Yes Fox (3) Yes No Image Entertainment Yes Yes Lionsgate Yes No Magnolia Pictures Yes Yes New Line Cinema Yes Yes Paramount (2) No Yes Porn Studios (7) No (except for Vivid) Yes Studio Canal Yes Yes Universal Studios (5) No Yes Warner Bros. (6) Yes Yes The Weinstein Company/Dimension ...

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment
Affiliations in the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format war have been pretty clearly defined for nearly two years now -- despite a hybrid player here and some international releases there, most of the players involved have not switched support since the early days. Well that's all about to change, as Paramount Pictures and Dreamworks Animation -- which started off HD DVD only before deciding to go both ways -- have officially announced plans to release movies exclusively on HD DVD, dropping Blu-ray support entirely. This means that hits like Transformers, Shrek the Third and Blades of Glory won't follow Mission: Impossible III as cross-format releases when they debut this holiday season. Paramount has released about 30 movies on Blu-ray so far, but those days have come to an end: apparently cheaper HD players trump a 2:1 sales advantage. We can't wait to see how the Blu-ray camp responds to this.

[Thanks to everyone ...

Every time I feel ready to declare Blu-ray a winner by technical knock-out, HD DVD fights back—hard. Today Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Animation announced that it would be releasing movies exclusively on HD DVD, starting with Blades of Glory, Transformers and Shrek the Third.
This is a pretty sizable deal, which includes movies from Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies, MTV Films. The reason DreamWorks Animation gets lumped in is that it uses Paramount for home-video distribution. Paramount had been playing the Warner Bros. game by releasing movies on both platforms. The reasons for the decision to ditch Blu-ray and put all their chips on HD DVD: "market-ready technology and lower manufacturing costs."

PARAMOUNT AND DREAMWORKS ANIMATION EACH DECLARE EXCLUSIVE SUPPORT FOR HD DVD Movies Distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment Including Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Animation SKG, DreamWorks Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV ...

Even if Target isn't so cozy with Sony as to sell Blu-Ray as its exclusive HD player, they're buddy-buddy enough that Target's selling some exclusive Bravia LCD sets through Target.com. Both are 720p, with the 26-inch model going for $800, and the 32-inch for $900; they'll also be available in-store next month.
They're both part of a Bravia line for big-box retailers (Wal-Mart's getting theirs next) directed at the mass market, much of which still balks at the prospect of dropping more than a grand on a TV—I know I do. While some of you guys might balk at lower-end HDTVs on the other hand, getting prices down to this level (or even lower) is really the only way most of the country's going to be dragged into the HD world proselytized for so hard by the industry. [Target/Target via Crave]

Filed under: Home Entertainment
For you malcontents out there waiting for a really, really tough media center, Alienware may be answering your call. According to reports, the gamer-targeting PC-maker will be launching an addition to its media center lineup (currently just the Hangar 18) sometime soon, and apparently the new variation will be somewhat of a heavy hitter. The upcoming, higher-end phase of the company's home entertainment line will be capable of handling two CableCards, will have four swappable hard drive bays (for a total of 4TB of storage), and will be available with Blu-ray and audio distribution options. In addition to the new system, Alienware has also announced that it will be offering CableCard support for its current Hangar 18 models via an external OCUR (OpenCable Unidirectional Receiver), although the add-on will have to be installed by a professional reseller. We can only hope they'll offer an over spec'd, stylized remote to work all of this new gea...

Filed under: Home Entertainment
Media centers are all the rage of late, and for those of you hemming and hawing over an HD-DVD / Blu-ray decision, the MediaMax HD could make your choice a little easier... or harder. The two-part media center consists of the MediaServer unit, plus the MediaDeck 4 HD set-top box, and allows you to store any DVD-standard to disk and then distribute it to whatever room in the house you choose (provided that room has a MediaDeck 4 connected). The system uses its own proprietary interface to navigate through your collection, and can stream different movies to multiple rooms in the network. The MediaDeck 4 HD features HDMI, DVI-I, VGA, S-Video, and component video outs; optical and S/PDIF digital audio outs, plus up to 8-channels of analog audio. Axonix, the company which makes the systems, appears to offer two separate players for HD-DVD and Blu-ray, though you would think for this money they would combine the two formats, but that doesn't appear to be t...

Here's a ridiculous rumor that has just about zero chance to be true. Some guy on a forum says a Gamestop employee told him that Microsoft is bringing an Xbox Ultimate complete with HD DVD drive built right in. Judging from the "transcript" the user posted, neither him or the Gamestop employee really knew what they were talking about, but hey, this is a forum. What did you expect? Transcript:
Me: Hey, do you have the Premiums with the hdmi? GT: Those are called the elites. They are right there. ME: No, I mean the premiums, *points*, with hdmi. GT: They're not making them yet till like later. ME: They're making them now, I've seen pictures of them online. GT: No, they're not. You got it wrong. ME: Nowai. GT: Let me explain, they're making the elites into premiums, and dropping the core. ME: WHAA.. GT: Microsoft told me they're making the elites into premiums, and later they're releasing xbox ultimate. ME: WTF is that? GT: It's the xbox 360 that has a hdmi, and a HD-DVD dr...